After more than ten years, my brunch gig at Ryles Jazz Club has come to a close. However, Bon Voyage Jazz Quartet lives on! As I write this, we are in the process of recording a new CD. Stay tuned for more developments.

I am thrilled to be speaking about Mojo for Murder at the Framingham Public Library this Friday, August 4 at noon. Also speaking will be two of my favorite mystery writers - Susan Oleksiw and Lisa Lieberman. Please join us!

Last week Carolyn had a chance to sit down with TV host Jan Lewis to discuss her book Melody For Murder: A Bertie Bigelow Mystery. Watch this 20 minute video on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnEg70fxu40

Join Carolyn Wilkins and the Bon Voyage Jazz Quartet for a Jazz Brunch at Ryles Jazz Club. The club is located in Inman Square, just steps from Red Line and bus service. If you're in the Boston area, come and join us! The food is outstanding and the music is swinging. There's no cover and children are welcome.

Curious about a Day In The Life of Bertie Bigelow, the amateur sleuth in Carolyn's Bertie Bigelow Mystery series? If you have enjoyed Bertie's escapades in Melody For Murder, you will love following Bertie through a typical day. Check it out August 23 at

If you are looking for a wonderful alternative worship service in downtown Boston, join Carolyn Wilkins and Willie Sordillo at Old South Church on Boylston Street. Thursday, July 21 at 6PM. All are welcome!

Carolyn will sit down with TV host Jan Lewis for an episode of "Be My Guest" at 1pm on August 18. You can catch the broadcast any time after the broadcast at www.uptonma.gov. She'll talk about her current book Melody For Murder and give a preview of what's next!

Melody For A Murder : a book jazz concert with author/jazz musician Carolyn Wilkins accompanied by her Bon Voyage Jazz Quartet, and special guest, John Voigt. Presented by the Friends of the Charlestown Branch of the Boston Public Library. Thursday, February 25, 7:30pm. Free and open to all, with a reception following. Wheelchair accessible. Charlestown Branch Library, 179 Main Street, Charlestown. For more information: www.friendsofcharlestownlib.org, friendsofcharlestownlib@gmail.com, 617-242-1248.

t's a brand new year! 2016 will be full of opportunities to catch Carolyn in concert. On Sunday, February 7 at 2PM she will be perform at Saugus Congregational Church to sing, play, and talk about her book They Raised Me Up:A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her. The church is located at 300 Central Street in Saugus, MA. For details, visit their website at www.facebook.com/uccsaugus

Melody For Murder is going on the road! On Saturday, October 3 at 1PM, I'll be speaking and signing books at 57th Street books, 1301 E. 57th Street, Chicago IL If you are in the Chicago area, please join me!

On Thursday August 27th at 10AM ET Carolyn Wilkins will talk about her book Damn Near White: An African American Family's Journey From Slavery To Bittersweet Success on the Maggie Linton Show. The Maggie Linton Show airs Mon-Fri 10am-noon EST on Sirius XM Urban View 126. Please feel free to check us out on www.maggielinton.com (Facebook page, www.facebook.com/maggielintonshow)

Carolyn will be joining noted historian Al-Tony Gilmore in a discussion on Colorism and Passing In American life and culture.

On Tuesday June 2 at 7:30pm my band and I will give a concert in David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston Street Boston, MA (on the campus of Berklee College of Music) to celebrate the publication of my new mystery novel Melody For Murder. This event is free and open to the public. If you're in the Boston area, please stop by.

Accompanied by Diane Wernick (sax), Phil Neighbors (drums) and Skip Smith (bass), I'll be singing and playing music that will call to mind the great noir films of the 40s and 50s. I'll also be reading from the book and signing your copies!

Today the Berklee Ensemble Department gave our colleague Paul Elmen a beautiful send-off. There was blues, there was funk - there was be-bop. We even had a DJ. Putting together this memorial concert has given us all something to be proud of.

If you are in the Boston area, please stop by Ryles Jazz Club in Inman Square and say hello! I'm there with the fabulous Bon Voyage Jazz Quartet - Phil Neighbors on drums, Skip Smith on bass, Diane Wernick on sax. We play a jazz brunch on the third Sunday of every month. I'd love to see you.

On Monday June 30 at 6PM, Carolyn Wilkins will be reading and signing books at the Honan-Allston Branch of the Boston Public Library, (300 Harvard Street in Allston, MA). Joining her will be Mae Siu-Wai Stroshane and Carmela Cattuti. It should be a stimulating evening of women's nonfiction writing! Join us!

On Wednesday May 7 at 6PM the Honan-Allston Branch of the Boston Public Library will present an interactive multi-media performance featuring visual artist Linda Clave and jazz pianist Carolyn Wilkins. Using excerpts from Carolyn Wilkins’ book They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her as a starting point, the two women will create together an original composition using sound, spoken word and visual art.

Carolyn will be joining author and Ensemble Department colleague Rebecca Cline at the next meeting of the Berklee Women's Collective. She'll be talking about They Raised Me Up with Professor Karen Wacks. She'll also be signing copies of the book. It's a proud moment for Carolyn, who remembers what it was like to be the only black female teaching in the entire Performance Division.

The meeting is from 1-2PM on Friday, April 11 in the William Davis Room.

Carolyn will be talking about and signing copies of her new book They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her in the Hastings Room at First Church in Cambridge - 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02140. For more information, call (617)547-2724.

They Raised Me Up is the story of single mother Carolyn Wilkins’ battle to succeed in the man’s world of jam sessions and jazz clubs, and of the five musically gifted black women who inspired her. In sync with the release, Wilkins will be signing books and reading excerpts from They Raised Me Up at 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th St. Chicago, IL 60637 – (773) 684-1300.

Wilkins alternates her own story with those of her ancestors’ struggles to realize their own dreams: Phillipa Schuyler, whose efforts to “pass” for white inspired Carolyn to embrace her own black identity; Marjory Jackson, the musician and single mother whose dark complexion and flamboyant lifestyle always raised eyebrows; Lilly Pruett, the stunningly beautiful daughter of an illiterate sharecropper; and Ruth Lipscomb, the country girl who realized her dream of becoming a concert pianist.

They Raised Me Up interweaves memoir with family history to create an entertaining, informative, and engrossing read that will appeal to anyone with an interest in African American or women’s history or to readers simply looking for an intriguing story about music and family.

About the Author: Carolyn Marie Wilkins is a Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She has toured South America as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, performed on radio and television with her group SpiritJazz, and worked as a percussionist for the Pittsburgh and Singapore symphonies. She has released several critically acclaimed CDs of her original compositions and is the author of Tips for Singers: Performing, Auditioning, and Rehearsing (Berklee Press) and Damn Near White: An African American Family’s Rise from Slavery to Bittersweet Success (University of Missouri Press).

Carolyn will be talking about her new book They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her at 7PM on Thursday, February 27 at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, MA 02140. For more information, call: (617) 491-2220

Check out Carolyn's interview on the Tavis Smiley network with Arts Culture Commentary host Bill Banfield! In this 25 minute broadcast, she talks about the remarkable women that inspired her to write her new book They Raised Me Up. To download this podcast, go to blogtalkradio.com/accbillbanfield.

I've made a short clip about my new book They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her. Paste this address into your browser to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad3vxSPITTI

At long last the sequel to Carolyn's memoir Damn Near White is coming out on the University of Missouri Press! It's called They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother And The Women Who Inspired Her. Go to my products page to order your advance copy NOW!

This time Carolyn's in Bogota, Colombia to perform and teach a workshop. She is auditioning talented students who want to come to Berklee College of Music. A fantastic experience - so many new friends!

Carolyn has been traveling around the country promoting her new book Damn Near White: An African American Family's Rise from Slavery to Bittersweet Success. After a well attended reading at Porter Square Books in Cambridge in February, Carolyn traveled to Chicago where she read at 57th Street Books and at St. Mark Church. Recently, Carolyn appeared in concert at Long Hall in Farmington MO where she performed to raise money for the Farmington Association for the Preservation of the African American Masonic Cemetery. She also read from Damn Near White and was interviewed on KREI radio.